Rose Quartz Universe Junior
by ASBusinessMagnet
Summary: Steven knows that he can't even hope to be as great as his mother once was. But he knows that he can at least try. Spoilers for "Sadie's Song".


Pearl was rather surprised by how quickly Steven grew.

Just thirteen years ago - a mere blink in a gem lifetime - she had witnessed the so-called "giving up of physical form" of her best friend and quite possibly romantic interest, Rose Quartz, at the hands of a mere human being. Though, Pearl quickly realized that this wasn't just "a mere human being", but rather someone with whom Rose shared a bond stronger than even that between Ruby and Sapphire.

She and the human had agreed to have a child. Despite the mere unthinkability of two species from different planets with vastly different biological compositions mating, the process did work out - to some extent. There were… rather major caveats, and one could assume that Rose didn't survive her so-called "pregnancy". The gemstone did, but at an immense flash of light, it had taken the form of Rose with it, and the remains looked more like a human child.

With that came all the difficulties of taking care of a growing human child. The human, who Pearl learned was named Greg, helped greatly with the process by building an entire house for the child to be raised in. He also supported the family financially, as well as explaining in detail what a preteen human needs. While Pearl had known some of the process, most of humans she saw on Earth were adults, and therefore, this was an entirely new world to her. There even seemed to be times when she wanted to give it all up; she was glad she didn't.

But that was all long ago, and now it seemed as if that part of the job was over. Steven was more than capable of taking care of himself, at least in the most basic ways, and even had unlocked some of Rose's former abilities, such as her shield, her healing powers and her control over plant life. Those all still worked in a distinct "Steven-y" way, but nevertheless, he was proving to be a worthy successor to his mother.

Well, at least initially.

Lately, though, he seemed to undergo a radical change of personality, completely unexplained by the Crystal Gems' prior experience with humans. He was considerably more irritable in the past months than in his prior life, and Pearl wasn't sure why. She didn't want to ask him directly, as he would likely get angry, so instead, she turned to the others who she had been with to raise Steven, namely Garnet and Amethyst.

Well, mostly Garnet. Amethyst had proven to be rather unhelpful on the matter, as she didn't care more about what was going on than, say, Lars or Sadie.

Pearl thus took courageous steps from her own room to Garnet's, where hopefully there would be an answer.

* * *

"Steven is undergoing a difficult period in his human life," Garnet commented, pretty much reading from her vision, as Pearl patiently listened. "While he always had difficulty choosing between his gem and human sides, for the period starting from around this year and lasting for a few more, his human hormones will be acting up, making him radically change in personality, as well as appearance."

Pearl only nodded, not really understanding what it all means. Ideally, she would explain what Garnet said to Greg, since he is kind of the only other human that is within his capabilities of taking care of Steven.

"This means that we should interfere with the process as little as possible, so that he would come out of the process undamaged. A good first step would be to relocate his room to a private area in the temple. He will be needing that."

"Rose's room? Don't you think that it's dangerous if he mishandles it, creating cloud stuff?" Pearl put her fingers together.

"It is marginally better than us walking in on his life every day, asking him to go on missions. After a while, he won't want to."

" _Won't want to go on missions?_ " Pearl suddenly snapped. "But he's a _Crystal Gem_! That's his destiny! And he always wanted to live up to it!"

"But he is a human being too." Garnet was completely unfazed by Pearl's overreaction. "He will come to us at crucial moments. Asking him to go on missions every day is just going to tire him both physically and emotionally. And besides, he will not want the stuff he's always wanted. That will just seem childish to him."

"Don't even _get_ me started on childish." Pearl groaned.

"Protecting the Earth is important to us, but to a human being, it's just a cliché movie plot. Believe me when I say that Steven needs this."

"Right, whatever. You're our leader. We'll just need someone to carry all his stuff."

* * *

At the moment, Steven was playing a video game on his new console. He really liked the 3D stuff, and was hoping that the video game industry would continue along this path. At least, that was as much as he remembered.

His enthusiasm over the game quickly waned, though, as the door to the Crystal Temple opened, and the familiar voice of Pearl called him. "Steven, we need to have a talk."

Steven groaned and shut off the console, wondering about all the possible things that Pearl needed to talk about. He had some rather unpolished manners for a human, but the main thing that came to his mind was that he was slacking off on gem missions, and he was likely to be brainwashed for hours. He thus reluctantly stepped down the stairs leading to his own "room" (really, back then it just was an elevated part of the house) and went to the door to the Crystal Temple. He looked up, just glancing briefly to see that Garnet had come along with Pearl, then looked down again.

"Steven, we know that you've been going through difficult times…" Pearl began.

"Your growth as a human being has changed your personality, and we believe to have come up with a solution." Garnet finished the sentence for Pearl, who was clearly nervous to say that, wondering how Steven would react.

"Which would be what? Get me to go on missions forever?" Steven still was expecting the worst.

"Don't say that, Steven." While Pearl was meaning well, she immediately realized that it might have sounded demanding, and she corrected herself: "I mean, you don't have to feel this way. It's your choice. You will work with us when we need you the most."

"What Pearl and I were trying to say is, we do realize now that we should leave you alone for the time being, and the placement of your room is not contributing positively. We thus are planning relocation." Garnet remained silent, still judging Steven's unpredictable reaction, then concluded: "To your mother's room."

"I get my own place!" Steven shouted excitedly, looking up briefly, and that was all it took for the familiar door to open and allow access to his room.

But, just as excited as he got, he suddenly growled slightly and looked down again. " _Finally._ "

He only watched as Amethyst came from some cranny of the rather poorly-built house, and was already swiping Steven's belongings in huge bunches.

* * *

 _Your mother's room._ These words continued to repeat in Steven's head, even after all this time.

It had been three years, and he had already spruced the place up, combining his belongings, made of matter, with stuff made of clouds, in intricate ways, not really getting how to design a personal space but trying his best. Despite that, it still reminded him of home. Not even home; it was his own little paradise on Earth, and he felt grateful towards his mother for allowing him this place, in which anything could be created at will at the expense of being made out of clouds.

But at the same time, Steven felt something different, and thought that as time went on, he began to distance himself more from everyone.

He had not made the mistake of trying to create anything living since the two incidents he had with the room. He knew that while useful, the room was also dangerous, and kept that in mind during his entire stay. And yet, despite no sentient presence there, he felt more at home there than with Garnet, or Amethyst, or Pearl, or Greg…

…or even Connie. Where to even begin with Connie?

Steven still had recurring thoughts about Connie, and how she turned out. While initially, he willingly didn't want to spend time with her, thinking that his hormones would grow out of control, later on, he saw that she gradually spent more and more time with the other Crystal Gems. Pearl had taught her sword fighting, as well as teaching her a great deal about gem history, Garnet consistently gave her romantic advice, making her love Steven even more, and Amethyst… let's just say that she and Connie sometimes spent nights together with a movie, or a book, or a game. Steven wondered about getting to talk with Connie sometime, but it seemed that she was more accepted as a Crystal Gem than Steven himself, and that was surprising, since she was a pure-blooded human.

It was almost as if the Gems didn't even really need Steven, and all they cared about was for him to unlock his gem powers, inherited from Rose Quartz. Steven thought back to when he was told about the relationship between her and himself, and almost universally, she was more emphasized than him.

 _Your mother's shield. Your mother's sword. Your mother's bubble. Your mother's healing powers. Your mother's room. Your mother's sanctuary. Your mother's secret armory._

It made him realize that they didn't get over the loss of Rose at all. On the surface, it seemed as if they did, and were willing to take care of Steven, but over time, it just got obvious that all he was ever meant to do was to follow his mother's legacy, to be Rose, version two.

"Oh, I am nothing without my mom. If I was her, this would be much easier." Steven lamented, speaking words for the first time in weeks.

What he didn't realize, though, was that letting out words was a mistake. Rose's room had the annoying tendency to pick up on any sentence that Steven said that voiced a wish, and he only had processed this when he heard the characteristic cloud poof, and his clothes changed. Instead of the usual reddish-pink shirt with a golden star on it, jeans and pink sandals, he was now wearing a floor-length white dress, with a heart-shaped cutout showing his gem, and was barefoot.

Since his appearance changed, the next thing he decided was to examine what he had gotten himself into. "Uh, a wall mirror?" As he wished, a mirror appeared, and he could now explore his new outfit - or, well, his mother's former outfit. Everything revolved around Rose, and not even Steven could stop thinking about her.

Suddenly, though, he was struck by a different sense of familiarity. The dress, while otherwise being a caricature of what he wanted to live up to, felt _right_ on him. This was much more like him than the old outfit he always wore, in a sense which he couldn't explain…

…but which he _may_ have experienced beforehand.

Steven looked away from the mirror and onto the shelves where most of his photographs were held. Most of them were fairly old, as they were taken during a time when he was still his usual outgoing preteen self, and but nevertheless, they stood the test of time. As he flipped through the pages, he saw himself as a baby, to his first steps, to himself posing at some notable gem locations, to himself at the human gatherings…

…and there he had found it.

The photo was taken at a Beach-a-Palooza a couple of years ago. Originally, Steven wasn't meaning to perform, as he was focused on Sadie getting the best performance she could. Sadie's mother, Barb, also assisted him, but just before the performance, things turned pear-shaped when they both realized that Sadie never really wanted this, and Barb was simply trying to make her live up to something. At the last moment, he came to the conclusion that it wasn't really her gimmick to be a performer with emphasized feminine features…

…but it was his.

There he was. His gem was exposed by the cyan skirt and crop-top, just as right now, and he had put on makeup to aid the performance. In addition, as he remembered, no one really booed at him; he actually felt more accepted as a drag queen than as his usual, "sweet and considerate and only occasionally obnoxious" self. And most of all…

…this was what Steven was _meant_ to be.

Steven looked at the photo, then at his reflection on the mirror again. He smiled, knowing that the few times where he presented as a woman were his most happiest.

His smile quickly turned upside-down, though, when he realized just how _un_ like a woman he looked. At the age of sixteen, many effects of puberty had already settled in, giving him a shape like his father's, with the broad shoulders and the flat chest. He didn't have the… chest protrusions that Connie and Sadie and even the other Crystal Gems had, and this was more saddened by the fact that the cut of Rose's dress was _meant_ for these protrusions.

He figured that he might do something about it when he knows how. After all, this feeling that his body felt wrong for him was still rather new, and in only ten minutes, Steven had _just_ realized that if he wanted to present as a she, he would also need a name appropriate for a she. He first thought about variations on his own name, not getting anything coherent and instead mumbling random consonants, before giving the mirror another glance, and being overcome with the sense of wanting to be his mother again.

"Rose," he muttered to himself, also noting that his voice had gotten rather low due to the aforementioned effects of puberty. "I think my name should be Rose Quartz Universe Junior." He enunciated each word of the name that he composed, partly for it to sink in and partly because he had never thought of the name before, and wanted just to realize how it should sound.

This was not the key part of the sentence, though. The words that struck him the most were "should be". While he was sure that any cloud creations would call him by that name now, he had already established the "no alive cloud creations" rule, and Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Connie would still call him Steven (and not to mention be worried about where he had disappeared during all this time). He had to tell them somehow, before getting into this whole "shapeshifting to a more appropriate form" business.

And because he was expected to be met sometime, there was no better time than now.

"Alright, room, give me back my old outfit." With another poof, the dress on Steven disappeared, being replaced with his usual outfit once again. "And… let me see the gems and Connie. The real ones." The door which he had already forgotten the shape of appeared, and he stepped through.

* * *

At the moment, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Connie were discussing something completely unrelated to Steven. Since learning about him, Connie was thrilled by the stuff he faces on a daily basis, but at the same time, this whole new world of aliens and monsters and magic had opened up to her, and very reasonably, she was more excited to learn about that. She also felt the need to have Steven around to be his friend, but as it seemed, the other three Crystal Gems were just as good friends as Steven was, despite being highly averse to humans in the past.

She was still worried for him, though. While puberty was supposed to change him - and her, actually, as well - it wasn't supposed to make him be reclusive and just… not himself. She even decided to change the topic while she was at it: "You know, I love learning about gems and all, but can I talk about something?"

"Go ahead. I am sure that what you have to say is extremely important." Garnet already knew. Around humans, she used her Future Vision a lot more subtly, but the effects were still noticeable, and most of all, Connie had already gotten used to them. The most trouble the fusion had, frankly, was to present the idea in a manner which wouldn't insult anyone and especially not Steven, who might come to listen at any minute now.

"Hasn't anyone noticed how weird Steven has been acting as of now?"

"We have, and as far as I researched the human puberty, it doesn't make any sense." Pearl stated matter-of-factly.

"What did we do to him?!" Amethyst almost screamed.

"Well, I don't think human concepts apply to him. Besides me, he didn't really have any human friends either." Connie mused.

"On the contrary, what Steven is experiencing right now is a very _human_ concept." Garnet stated, making everyone glance at her; mainly for the awkward emphasis of the word "human" and not "very". There went the hopes of getting everyone introduced to the topic easily.

She allowed herself to add: "And this has nothing to do with you anyway. It's our fault."

"Our fault?" Pearl took the insult personally. "Don't you mean your fault? You led us to the perfect way to help us create the best gem warrior out of Steven-"

"And that is the problem."

"Yeah, right!" Amethyst added, having had similar experiences with the other two; namely, despite the fact that she had never fought in a gem war, her outlook towards everything was expected to be similar to that of Pearl and Garnet.

"We don't even expect Steven to be his own person. We only see the successor of Rose Quartz inside of him. And that has already hurt him beyond the critical point."

"What do you mean, critical point?" Pearl asked, before feeling the need to add: "And besides, it's not like _I_ want Rose to come back to-"

"Well, our time is up. Steven will be coming soon, and I don't want any of you in his line of sight. That will only make the matters worse. Connie, it has been nice to see you and we hope to assist you again." Connie and Garnet shook hands, and soon enough the human girl was running outside the house back to Beach City, while Amethyst opened the door to her own room and quickly dragged Pearl in, against her wishes.

Garnet only patiently watched as Amethyst's door closed, giving its way to the Rose Quartz door, from which Steven emerged. He was having difficulty making each step, especially since he saw the silhouette of the person who already knew all his secrets before he even told them, and the fusion knew that nothing she can say could help him in the matter. It was a better plan than letting all four talk to him, but it was still a pretty bad plan.

"G-Garnet?" Even his voice was rather shaky, and at every heartbeat, there was the risk that he would just turn away and return to his room. But Garnet knew that this would only delay the problem. Steven should be telling it right now.

He finally let the door to his room close behind him. "There's b-been something I want to tell e-everyone… a-and I know that you a-already know, but…"

"Tell me anyway. It is not true until it comes out of your mouth." Garnet falsely reassured. At this point, all of her own cards were open for everyone to see, and she was sure that the gems and humans and hybrids around her acted accordingly.

Steven took a deep breath, which seemingly stopped the shaking for a while. "How do I even begin… I know you expect me to essentially be my mom and… when I was in my room, I thought about it and…"

The next sentence came out of him rather difficultly. "…for some reason, I even look really good in her dress…"

"Please continue." Garnet nodded.

"…and I thought about the Beach-a-Palooza from back then… and I just…" Steven took his final breath before revealing the big truth. "I think I'm better off as a girl."

"Well, whatever you think defines you best, and don't let anyone tell otherwise." Garnet reassured briefly, and suddenly, the person before her began smiling, as if he - well, _she_ \- gained a lot of trust. "And if I am correct, you already have a name to go along with your cloud dress?"

"Yeah." _She_ thought back to how the room had accidentally made a dress for _her_ , and smiled again. "Rose Quartz Universe Junior."

"Welcome back to our team, Rose Junior." Garnet slightly chuckled; it all seemed like a really bad parody of how Steven was once treated.

But Steven was now a thing of the past. There was only the half-human, half-gem girl standing in front of her, and the immediate need to craft her a shape so that she feels better about herself.

* * *

When the Crystal Gems had gathered in what they dubbed "the Common Room" the next day, it seemed that Garnet had been reading rather intensely. There were books and booklets on a topic called "transgender" everywhere, and in fact, when she entered, she immediately picked one up again, researching how pure-blooded humans had dealt with such a thing. Amethyst, though, had already made herself up a game of jumping from one pile of books to the other without touching the ground or toppling any of the piles, and Pearl only watched both of them, wondering what is going on and why there is a pile of white cloth, a sewing machine and scissors thrown onto the mix.

Finally, the true star of the show came in. One could still recognize the clothes that the others would have typically associated with Steven, but no one called his name, as Garnet had warned them just before the person came: "One: act supportive. Two: there is no Steven."

"So, what is there to be supportive for you about?" Pearl was the first to inquire on what was going on.

"Why didn't Garnet tell you?" The person who came responded.

"Don't you remember? It is not true…" Garnet began her sentence from their previous encounter, still reading one of the books.

"…until it comes out of my mouth. Yeah, right. Well, I won't jump into the story once again… well, I think I was supposed to be a girl."

"Supposed to be a girl? How is it even possible?" Pearl wondered.

"It just is. Don't question it. Supportive." Garnet had considered a reality where she hit Pearl over the head with her book, but the end result was that this would have caused Pearl to reject the idea even more, and the gems would have returned to desperately trying to take care of a lonely man who wishes he were a woman.

"So, if Steven's not here, who is?" Amethyst got to the point.

"Rose Quartz Universe Junior." The hybrid said, each mention of the name making _her_ more confident in pursuing this new identity.

Amethyst laughed loudly at the name. She just _felt_ that this one time, she was in some sort of parody or a Future Vision, even though none of this was true. Sure, Steven has to be Rose, version two, but that doesn't mean that he should go all the way and take her name.

Though, she found herself quickly silenced by Pearl, who put her hand over the purple gem's mouth, making the pile of books she was standing on topple. In Pearl's image, even if what Steven was doing was ridiculous, none of the others should ever laugh at him for any reason. Garnet figured that this was a trivial issue and should not have been prevented, while… Rose Junior simply looked at the commotion, knowing that the three never really got along together.

Even then, Pearl couldn't hold in a nervous laugh, followed by a complete mess forming in her head. Sure, the other Rose had been missed a lot by everyone, but had the requirements on Steven been imposed so harshly that he didn't see any other way to resolve it other than to take the identity of his mother? This was unthinkable; Steven had all the chances to become his own being.

And yet, the newly created name ringed in her head. _Rose Quartz Universe Junior._ There was no more of the rather casual, excitable and generally easygoing Steven Universe; only someone ready to prove that she is even more worthy than her mother, and who is dissatisfied with her still-masculine form, hence all the books that Garnet had gathered on "transitioning" and "hormone replacement" and "surgery".

Garnet herself, though, just threw the book that, at the moment, was in her hands, away. This was all human perspective, and there needed to be a distinct plan to deal with the situation in a gem way. Luckily, even though there were no books on that subject, Garnet had already spent what felt like a year in the visions, hence the presence of the white cloth and the sewing machine.

"Alright, we got the news. Pearl, get the sewing machine ready; we need to get a dress done, and it should be identical to Rose's. Amethyst, you should assist… Rose Junior in acquiring a feminine form. Meanwhile, I will be bringing Greg and Connie in; they also need to learn why Steven is missing." With that, Pearl readied the machine as commanded, while Amethyst together with Rose Junior left the Common Room to Amethyst's own room.

Garnet, though, scribbled a few numbers and gave them to Pearl, informing, in an ever-cryptic way: "The so-called "transition" was a success. I already took measurements that you'll need to sew the dress. I'm going now." Understandably, Pearl was confused, but quickly got over the mix of emotions as she put the white cloth on the machine, only briefly looking at the picture of Rose as reference, and Garnet left the house to meet Greg and Connie.

* * *

At the moment, it was just another workday for Greg. Since Beach City didn't have that many residents, the wash was empty for most of the time, which Greg spent sitting on the edge of his van, practicing the guitar. A lot of the songs he played, though, were written almost entirely in minor chords and revolved around family; when Garnet heard them, she concluded that Greg must have been missing Steven a lot.

Out of respect for the human, Garnet listened to the end of the song. Greg was not at all creeped out by the fact that a Gem was listening to his songs; after all, this was how he met the love of his life. He thus finished, looked up to see that someone was sitting beside him, and began talking to her: "Hey, Garnet. Seen Steven lately?"

"Well… how do I begin…" While Garnet had already learned there are two types of humans, even she had trouble explaining that reality was more complicated than that, and Greg's kid was part of the system.

"Did Steven get hurt?" Greg grew worried.

"If Steven got hurt, I would have informed you before it even happened."

"Oh, right, your future powers. Then what is it?"

Garnet clapped her hands, hitting the two gemstones together, careful not to accidentally crack them. "I want you… to say hello to your daughter."

"My daughter? I have a daughter?" At this point, Greg had forgotten that he accidentally quoted a movie.

"Yes." Garnet bluntly said. "I will also need Connie for this. Let's meet at the beach house, in the Common Room." She jumped up, rising well above the clouds, and Greg was left confused. What was actually going on? And which location was "the Common Room"?

There was only one way to find out.

Greg locked his van and the car wash, and began taking steps to the house.

* * *

Greg, Garnet and Connie came to the house at approximately the same time. As Greg entered, he noticed that the Common Room had looked much colder than when he last visited it. "Hey, where is all the child stuff?"

"We had it moved." Garnet only responded, as Pearl, the only other person present in the room, was still working on the dress.

Connie, who occasionally saw her parents sew like this, understood what was going on, but not _why_. "Who is this for?" she asked. "Don't gems just have their clothes appear on them?"

"One of us doesn't." Garnet said, looking at the process. Only Pearl was getting involved in something as intricate as that, and therefore Garnet couldn't even hope to understand it, but reassured herself that it will be done soon.

"Oh, yeah, Steven. What about him?" Connie realized.

"Don't even say that name." Garnet said, almost threateningly.

"What? What is going on? What happened to…"

"Her." Garnet finished the sentence for Connie, effectively also explaining the matter.

Though, Connie still didn't understand any more, and sat down. Greg and Garnet followed, and the three simply listened to the hum of the machinery that Pearl was operating.

Well, for some time, until it stopped. "Here we go! The dress is done. I'm going to Amethyst's." Pearl entered through the Crystal Temple's door, having the purple bubblegum pattern appear for her, and soon enough, disappeared.

When she reappeared, Amethyst was by her side, alongside with someone who was almost completely different from anyone living as a Crystal Gem, but who still had the familiar black curly hair. Otherwise, though, the dress was a spitting copy of what the woman in the portrait above the door to the outside wore, complete with a star-shaped cutout exposing the Rose Quartz gem.

"Dad! Connie! Here you-" The girl held herself onto the throat, still unfamiliar with the new, more high-pitched voice that she had gotten as part of the transition. Of course, it felt right, but she just didn't know how to deal with it.

"Steven! I'm sorry, I mean… who are you?" Connie recognized that this gem had once belonged to Steven, but then remembered the threat not to mention Steven's name.

"Well, I'm sorry for all of this too." The girl took a deep breath, saying the name that had already burned to her head. "Rose Quartz Universe Junior."

"This can't be happening! I don't know girl stuff! How am I going to take care of you?" Greg panicked.

"Woah, this is even better than before!" Connie smiled. "I get my own female friend! We can talk about makeup and boy bands… and I won't ever feel the need to worry about us, well…"

"Don't say that yet. Anyone and everyone can fall in love." Garnet commented.

"Wow, this went a lot better than expected." Rose Junior laughed, before realizing that this might have hurt the others, and ended with: "I love you all." She ran towards Greg and Connie, and hugged them both.

"Well, I don't know what you two think, but Rose Junior is still a protector of the Earth." Pearl sighed. That difficulty was already out of its way, but the seclusion of the youngest Crystal Gem and the effect on her personality remained.

* * *

 _Author's idiotisms: The star iris closed in on them. The end._

 _Writing for Steven Universe has really forced me to type the letters Q and Z a lot more often than usual. No, wait, it hasn't, since I still rarely use Rose's full name._


End file.
